Today in Pictures: Dec. 15, 2010

US soldiers pose for a group picture after a symbolic flag-lowering ceremony marking the end of the US mission in Iraq at a military base West of Baghdad, Dec. 15, 2011 after nearly nine years of divisive war that began with the invasion to oust Saddam Hussein. (Ali Al-Saadi/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghan National Army (ANA) cadets dance during a graduation ceremony at the Ghazi Military Training Center in Kabul, Dec. 15, 2011. International troops in Afghanistan and all NATO-led combat forces are due to leave by the end of 2014, when Kabul will assume responsibility for the country's security. Some 300,000 Afghan Army and Police personnel have been trained so far. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)

Black smoke rises from a high rise building in Hanoi, Vietnam, after a fire started Thursday afternoon, Dec. 15, 2011. (Aaron Gardiner/AP Photo)

People watch as the body of a person who died after drinking toxic alcohol is taken to a hospital mortuary in Diamond Harbour, near Calcutta, India, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside Calcutta, officials said. (Bikas Das/AP Photo)

A Palestinian man waves a green Hamas party flag as tens of thousands of supporters of the Islamist movement gather in Gaza City to celebrate the 24th anniversary of its founding, Dec. 14, 2011. (Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images)

Jewish settlers' children read from the holy Torah, in the rubble of an illegal settlement house, which was demolished by the Israeli army, Dec. 15, 2011 in the northern West Bank settlement of Mitzpe Yitzhar, near the Palestinian city of Nablus. (Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)

An activist of the animal-rights group "AnimaNaturalis" lays down naked on a giant plate of food during a performance to denounce the consumption of meat, Dec. 15, 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. (Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images)